Stranded
by Fuzzbug
Summary: While flying to Asia for a vacation, Scott and Alan crash into Mount Everest and are both seriously injured. Stranded in the freezing cold and unable to contact Thunderbird 5 or base, can the two tracy brothers survive? COMPLETE!
1. Strawberries and surprises

_Synopsis: While on their way to Asia for a vacation, Scott and Alan crash into Mount Everest and are both seriously injured. Stranded in the freezing cold, and unable to contact base, can the Tracy brothers get out alive._

Stranded

Chapter 1

Alan Tracy walked out onto the pool area carrying a large strawberry sundae. His Grandmother had discovered the recipe while cleaning out the kitchen. Alan had helped to make it, and as a treat he was allowed the first one. Unfortunately after three spoonfuls he was beginning to feel a little sick.

"I need a little help here" Alan thought. He scanned the pool area and spotted just the person he was looking for.

Smiling to himself, Alan approached the dark haired figure lying on the sunbed.

"Scott?"

"Mmm?" Scott didn't open his eyes.

"Can you do me a favour?"

"No I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Just because."

"Well you're a _great_ big brother Scott. Very well, I guess I'll have to find someone else to help me eat this."

At the word 'eat' Scott's eyes snapped open. If there was one thing Scott loved almost as much as flying, it was food. Of all the Tracy family Scott had the biggest appetite.

Looking up Scott spied the strawberry sundae clasped firmly in his youngest brothers hands. His mouth began to water, he could already taste the ice cream and he licked his lips.

Alan noticed his brothers reaction and chuckled to himself. His brother could be real greedy sometimes! There was no need for a trash can when he was in the vicinity.

Alan pretended to look around. "I wonder where Gordon is? I expect he'll help me eat this. I can grab some extra strawberries in the kitchen while I'm looking for him! And some marshmallows too! I like marshmallows, they just melt in your mouth." With that Alan began to walk back towards Tracy villa.

Strawberries! Marshmallows! This was too much for Scott. He leapt off the sun bed and sprinted after his brother, shouting as he went. "Alan! Alan wait! I've changed my mind, I'll help you!"

Alan stopped and turned around to face his oncoming brother. "Oh I see. When it's something to do with food, you're just dying to help. But anything else you don't want to know."

"Ok, ok I'm sorry." Scott never took his eyes of the sundae. "But please I'm begging you, let me have some."

"Go on then. Beg."

"What?"

"Get down on your knees and beg." Alan grinned wickedly. Now was the testing time. Did Scott cherish his stomach more than his pride? Alan was about to find out.

"No Way, I'm not doing that!"

"Very well." His blonde-haired sibling took a deep breath. "GOR-"

"Alright! Alright! Jeez!" Scott glanced round to make sure no one was watching, then he slowly got down on one knee. "How's this?"

"Scott you're begging, not proposing. Put a bit of effort into it."

Scott scowled and gave his brother a look that said 'you're going to pay for this,' then slowly went on two knees. "Pleeease" Scott clasped his hands together as if praying, while at the same time thinking that this was probably one of the most embarrassing situations he had ever found himself in. "Please let me have some."

Alan tried to keep a straight face, but to no avail. First the corners of his mouth twitched violently, then he burst into full blown hysterics. "Get up you ass! You can help me, but you'll have to get another spoon from the kitchen."

Scott sprinted towards the kitchen like lightning.

Alan laughed. "I bet even Thunderbird one can't go that fast!" He thought.

Five minutes later, the eldest and youngest Tracy brothers were side by side in adjacent sunbeds, the sundae was positioned on a table between them. It was already half empty.

Alan popped another spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth. "So where are you going for your vacation?"

Their father had given Scott two weeks leave from international rescue, for a well earned break.

Scott chewed a strawberry thoughtfully. "I don't really know yet kiddo. I haven't thought about it."

"Well may I suggest a lovely sunny vacation on a tropical Hawaiian island. Sun, sea, sand and best of all-he winked at Scott-hula girls!"

Scott laughed. "Have you ever considered becoming a travel agent? I think you'd be good at it."

"Are you kidding me, sitting behind a desk all the time, tapping away on computers all day everyday? No thanks. Give me Thunderbird three any day."

"Yeah I suppose your right." Scott ate another spoonful of ice-cream, and closed his eyes trying to get rid of the brain freeze that was creeping up on him unseen, like a sniper.

Alan gave his eldest brother a comical scowl. "That's what you get for eating it so fast." He thought for a minute then smiled slyly. "You know what?"

"What?"

"Brains told me the reason why it's called 'brain freeze' is because your brain literally freezes, as if its been put in a freezer for hours on end. Also your brain cells freeze too. It can take years for them to thaw out again, and you can lose a lot of intelligence as well."

"Don't be stupid, that's not true…..is it?"

Alan shrugged. "Don't know. I'm just warning you, maybe you should ask Brains yourself. I'm sure he'll explain it to you."

Scott studied his brother carefully, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not. Then it came to him and he grinned. "Nice try little brother, but no amount of trickery is going to get me away from this," he indicted the sundae dish which was now almost empty.

"Damn" Alan muttered under his breath, but then he looked up and smiled sweetly at Scott, an action that earned him a perplexed look from his older brother. "Don't worry Scott. You don't need ice-cream for your brain cells to freeze. Old age does that to you anyway, and lets face it you've just about reached the mark I'd say."

"Hey!" Scott prodded his dessert spoon at Alan's chest. "watch it you, or I might seriously reconsider taking you on vacation with me."

"Huh?" This was news to Alan. If Scott took one of his brothers on vacation with him, it was usually Virgil, since they were the closest. "You were gonna let me go on vacation with you?"

"Well….yeah. I spoke to Dad about it last night, and he agrees with me. You deserve a break as much as I do, what with your three month stint in Thunderbird five after Johns accident."

Just over twelve weeks ago, international rescue had been called to help a group of cavers who had become trapped, after a rockslide had struck. Virgil had used the Mole to drill an entrance, and then he and John had started getting the victims out. Unfortunately during their rescue mission there was a cave-in, and a large slab of rock had crashed down on John, causing him to fracture his right leg. Luckily Virgil had managed to drag his younger brother out, just before the cave collapsed completely. John had been taken to hospital where his leg had been put in a cast. He was told that he would need to rest his leg for at least three months. Scott and Virgil both reassured the doctor that they, and their family would see to that.

And they had. Poor John was succumbed to his bed for most of his recovery period, and he was constantly being chastised by his father, brothers and worst of all, his Grandmother, if he so much as tried to move his leg more than an inch.

His recovery had been tough on everyone, especially Alan who had to serve an extra months term on Thunderbird five. Luckily John was now fully recovered and able to go back on duty again.

"Though I don't think I should take you," Scott continued. "After the grief you gave me over the sundae."

Alan laughed. "That was hilarious! You should have seen your face when you spotted the sundae. And how desperate you sounded when you asked, sorry _begged _for some of it."

"Do you want to come on this vacation or not?"

"Sure I do! Err, you're not going to make me beg are you?"

"Am I really that mean?"

"Am I that meant to answer that?"

"Watch it! I'm still gonna get you back for that."

"Oh yeah? So what's your big plan of revenge then, take me on vacation with you, then leave me stranded?"

"That idea did cross my mind, but then I began to wonder what Dad would say."

"Yeah, I can hear him now." Alan impersonated his Father. "SCOTT TRACY, YOU DID WHAT! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE YOUR POOR DEFENCELESS BROTHER! YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE! I'M CONFISCATING THUNDERBIRD 1 FROM YOU YOUNG MAN! YOU WILL SPEND THE NEXT THREE, NO, SIX MONTHS DOING DUTY IN THUNDERBIRD 5 INSTEAD!"

Scott Tracy burst out laughing, and put on a mocked frightened tone: "No! Please no! Don't take Thunderbird one away from me, I couldn't take it! And for the love of God please don't send me up to Thunderbird five! There might be aliens!"

Alan, who was chewing a strawberry immediately began to choke, as he swallowed it the wrong way. His brother slapped him on the back a few times. "Jesus Al what are you trying to do, prove that people can actually die laughing?"

"Ho Ho very funny! You should be a comedian."

"Nah, not if this is the effect is has on people!"

Alan laughed and smiled at his brother. "Thanks Scott."

"What for?"

"Letting me come on vacation with you."

Scott put an arm around Alan's shoulder. "Hey no problem kiddo. Just don't annoy me too much, ok?"

"ok……..so where are we going?"

_NOTE: Well that was my first chap. Don't worry the rest of your favourite Tracy bros. will come into it soon, I promise._

_This is my first fan fiction, so I apologise for any mistakes I've made._


	2. Crash and burn

Chapter 2

"So where are you going then?" John Tracy asked his eldest brother from the monitor in Thunderbird five.

"Well me and kiddo discussed it a bit, and we decided we wanted to go somewhere in Asia." Replied Scott.

"Asia? Why there?"

"It was Alan's idea really, he's never been there before. And for some strange reason he wants to visit the Great Wall of China."

The third eldest Tracy brother laughed. "Knowing Alan he probably wants to get a car and race along it! So have you packed everything?"

"Yes I've packed everything."

"Socks?"

"Yep."

"Sun cream?"

"Yep."

"Alan repellent?"

"Of course! That has its own holdall."

"So it should. You never know when you're gonna need it. Clean shirts?"

"Yes, I have clean shirts."

"Toothpaste?"

"JOHN!" Scott was starting to get annoyed. "I have everything, ok?"

"Actually you haven't got everything," came a voice from behind Scott.

Scott spun round. "Virgil! Where did you come from?"

The second eldest raised an eyebrow. "Scott, I think your old enough to know about the birds and the bees." He grinned. "But if you want I'll explain it to you again. You see when a Man and a Woman love each other very much, they-"

"VIRG. NO!" Scott shuddered, closed his eyes and shook his head vigorously from side to side, trying to get rid of the graphic mental picture that was forming in his mind. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

His brother laughed. "Yeah I know. I came from the kitchen."

"I take it Grandma isn't in there then?" The question came from John.

"No she's not in there, but I'll tell you what is, Strawberry sundaes!" He turned to Scott. "You should have one, that way you won't have to _beg _for some!"

Scott scowled angrily, and put his hands on his hips. "You've been speaking to Alan, haven't you?"

"Of course."

John spoke up. "What's this about Scott, and begging, and strawberry sundaes?"

Virgil explained to John, what Alan had told him, about Scott literally begging on his knees, for some of Alan's sundae.

John laughed so hard he clasped his sides, to prevent a stitch from descending upon him. "Scott Tracy when it comes to food, you are priceless! I can't believe you cherish your stomach, more than your pride!"

"I don't!" Scott protested. "Besides, how do you know he's telling the truth?"

"Three things bro. 1) You'll do anything for food. 2) There's scuff marks on the knees of your trousers, and 3) This is Alan we are talking about. He's the biggest prankster after Gordon!"

"Yeah, well he gonna pay for it! One way or the other, he's gonna pay! Nobody makes Scott Carpenter Tracy beg on his knees, that's for sure!"

Both of his brothers burst into hysterics. "Ooh! Listen to Mr 'I will have my revenge!' Virgil commented.

"Shut up Virg. You were saying I'd forgotten something?"

"Oh yeah, I'll just go and get them for you." With that Virgil went back into the kitchen. A few seconds later he was back, carrying a tiny box which he placed in his brother's hand.

Scott studied it carefully. The box was blue and white, with a name on it that would have given Scott a severe headache, if he tried to announce it. "What are these?"

"Stress pills." Replied Virgil simply. From the monitor John chuckled.

"Stress pills? What the hell am I gonna want stress pills for?"

"Trust him Scott" smiled John. "If you're taking Alan on vacation with you, your gonna need them!"

Scott began to walk out of the room.

"Hey where are you going?"

"To take some of _these. _I need them right now!"

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So are you ready to go?" Gordon asked his youngest brother.

"Of course! I've been ready ages." Alan replied.

"Are you going in the jet or the Thunderbird?"

"Dad wants us to go in the jet. you know, just in case Thunderbird ones needed."

"yeah I know. So where are you going?"

Alan scratched his head thoughtfully, and smiled. "Somewhere in Asia I think. China maybe."

"Cool. Why China?"

"Never been there before. Thought it might be a good experience." He grinned. "Besides, I think the Great Wall of China might make a good race track!"

His auburn haired brother laughed. "I would love to see the look on Father's face, when he gets a call from the Emperor of China, informing him that one of his sons has been caught drag racing along one of their most precious and ancient monuments!"

"Yeah, I wouldn't hear the end of it! He'll probably stick me in Thunderbird five for the rest of my life or something!"

"He would have creamed you for sure!"

Suddenly, and with no warning, Alan burst out laughing. In fact it was so sudden that it made Gordon jump a bit. "Christ AL! I wouldn't have thought getting creamed by Dad, was a laughing matter."

"No, no, it's not that." Alan wiped tears away from his eyes. "But when you said 'creamed' it reminded me, of something Scott did earlier. It was so funny!"

"What? What did he do?" Gordon Tracy was all ears. If Scott did something funny, then it had to be good. Scott didn't usually do extremely humorous things. He was the serious one. And he had to be. After all, he was International Rescue's field commander.

Alan explained about what had happened earlier with the sundae.

In no time at all Gordon too, burst into hysterics. "Are you telling me, that you actually made Scott Tracy beg on his knees for something?"

"Yep."

"Wow kiddo, you must have a death wish! Scott isn't going to forget that in a hurry, I should know! Remember the cake incident?"

"Oh boy, do I!"

About a week ago, Grandma Tracy had baked a cake, and had left it on the side board, strictly informing the brothers that nobody was to touch it.

Gordon however, while in his 'I feel like pranking somebody moment', decided to rig the cake with an ingenious contraption that involved very thin wires, and a catapult system.

The idea of Gordon's invention was that if anyone touched the cake, as he knew they eventually would, knowing his brothers, it would interrupt the wiring system, and ultimately catapult the cake into the persons face.

As Gordon had guessed, it was Scott who set off Gordon's contraption, after he had decided to drag his finger along the icing, breaking the wiring system.

The brothers had never laughed so hard when Scott came angrily into the lounge, his face covered in icing and jam.

Scott of course knew whose prank it was straight away, and went for the fourth eldest Tracy at once.

If hadn't been for the fact that Grandma Tracy had decided to walk in., Scott would have probably throttled Gordon there and then. As it was however, he never got a chance…

"SCOTT CARPENTER TRACY, IS THAT MY CAKE ALL OVER YOUR FACE!" For such a small person, the Tracy boys Grandmother sure had a loud voice.

Scott looked down at his feet. "Yes Grandma, but-"

"Scott I told you not to touch it!" Her voice had quietened down, but the brothers could tell that she was still pretty angry.

"Sorry Grandma."

"You will be. First of all I want you to clean up that mess in the kitchen. And when I say clean, I mean _clean._ That means soapy water, mop and bucket, you got me?"

"But Grandma, it was Gordon fault! He made the-"

"Trap," Gordon interrupted. "It was a trap Grandma. I knew one of these lot would try to nick some of it, so I made a catapult system."

"Oh? And how did this catapult system work Gordy?"

Everyone listened as Gordon explained the basic principal of his invention.

When he had finished, Grandma Tracy turned to Scott. "Is that true Scott? Did you touch my cake?"

Scott couldn't deny it. "Yes Grandma, but I only wanted a little taste, honestly!"

"I don't care how big a taste you wanted Scott Tracy, I told you not to touch it! Now off to the kitchen with you!"

Scott Tracy stormed towards the kitchen, but not before whispering to his auburn haired brother: "You are so dead! You just wait, I'll gonna get you back for this!"

And Gordon knew that his brother would, he just didn't _when_ . He would have to wait.

And he had waited. For a week. But so far there had not been any revenge from Scott's angle. At least not yet anyway.

"You have a good time," said Gordon after Alan had finished rambling on about the cake incident. "And if Scott mentions my name and 'revenge' in the same sentence, give me a call, ok?"

"Ok." Alan gave his brother a hug. "See you when I get back."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Ok son, you have clearance for take off." Jeff announced into the radio.

"FAB Father." Came his eldest sons reply. Scott turned to Alan. "You ready kiddo?"

"Of course!"

"Well hear we go then." Scott took the controls and guided the jet down the run way.

From the balcony, Virgil and Gordon watched as their brothers, and the jet, disappeared into the sky.

"There goes a brave man," Gordon commented

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Scott, taking Alan on vacation. Brave decision don't you think?"

Virgil laughed. "Oh yeah, very brave! Taking Alan on vacation is usually a fate worse than death! But I think Scott will be able to handle it."

"Will you miss him?"

"Who Scott? yeah I suppose. You gonna miss Alan?"

"What the brat? The kiddo? Yeah I'm gonna miss him. Heaven knows why though."

"I know why. You now don't have anyone to plan pranks with."

"I have you. Do you want to help me paint polka dots on Thunderbird one?"

Virgil thought,(for about five seconds!) "Yeah ok."

Great! I'll get the paints, you get the brushes, I'll meet you in Thunderbird one's hangar in five minutes."

"FAB."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Are we there yet?"

"For the last time, NO Alan, we are NOT nearly there!"

Alan groaned. "Well how long will it be til we get there?"

"A few hours. I want to fly over the Himalayas, and check out Mount Everest."

"Why?"

"I want to see if it's as magnificent, as people say it is."

"Oh," Alan's eyes drifted shut. "Well wake me up when we get there, I wouldn't mind seeing it as well."

"Fine"

The red jet cruised across the sparkling ocean, it's reflection trailing along the blue waves. It was hard to imagine that in just a few hours time, they would be entering the cold temperature of the Himalayas, from the tropical temperatures they were now flying in.

Scott listened to his brother's light snoring and smiled. His brother was ok. For a brat. But sometimes he could be so annoying, conniving too. The sundae thing was a good example of this.

"I _must_ make sure I get him back for that." Scott reminded himself, for perhaps the third time since they had left the island.

The time passed quickly, and soon the jet was flying over the Himalayas, the rocky peaks reaching towards the sky.

Scott was just about to wake his brother, when suddenly there was a loud explosion from beneath the jet. The force of it rocked the plane.

Alan's eyes flew open. "What the hell was that!"

"I don't know! There's something on the ground beneath us, I can't tell what it is, but its firing missiles at us!"

A second explosion threw Alan. His face collided with the control panel, and he uttered a cry of pain as he felt his nose fracture. Blood began to pour out of his nostrils. It ran his chin, soaking the white shirt he was wearing.

"Alan are you-."

He got no further, for suddenly there was a third explosion, this one striking the base of the craft. The jet began a fast decent towards the mountainside, of Mount Everest.

"Scott do something!"

"I'm trying!"

And he was. The eldest Tracy pulled on the controls desperately, trying to even the plane out, as he had been trained to do in the airforce.

But it was too late. Far too late. Suddenly there was a fourth explosion, as the jet made a terrible and fiery impact, with the tallest mountain in the world.


	3. Painting and awakening

**Chapter 3**

NOTE:_ Sergeant Lee and General Yang are my creation. All other characters belong to Gerry Anderson._

The two brothers stood back and admired their handiwork.

The whole of Thunderbird one, Scott's pride and joy, had been painted from top to bottom, in an array of multicoloured polka dots. Blue, red, yellow, orange. Not one bit of the Thunderbird had gone untouched.

"Scott's gonna kill us when he gets back. You know that don't you?"

Gordon looked at his older brother, and smiled like he didn't have a care in the world. "Relax Virg. We'll have Thunderbird one as good as new by the time he gets back, I promise."

"But what happens if Thunderbird one's needed?"

"Err Virg? Thunderbird one's out of commission remember?"

"Oh yeah. The earthquake."

There had recently been an earthquake in San Francisco. International rescue had been called out to help some people trapped in the rubble, of an office block.

Luckily the quake had only been small, but unfortunately after they had got everyone out, there had been an aftershock, which had buried Thunderbird one under tons of rubble.

Virgil started to laugh. "Poor Scott! You should have seen the look on his face, when he saw his precious craft, being buried under all that debris!"

Luckily they had managed to remove the rubble, and Thunderbird one wasn't badly damaged. But it needed a whole new paint job.

Thunderbird one being out of commission, was another reason why Scott had been given time off.

"I Wonder where they are now?" Gordon wondered.

Virgil checked his watch. "They should be somewhere over the Himalayas."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Scott Tracy groaned as his eyes flickered open. He blinked a few times, trying to come to terms with his surroundings. Where was he?

"Oh God!" He thought. "The plane! The mountain! We must have crashed!"

As he tried to move to a better position, a terrible pain shot through his arm and leg, and he gave a small cry of agony.

They were broken.

Suddenly from somewhere near, he heard a soft voice. "Scott? Is that you?"

"Al? Where are you?"

"Over here."

Scott turned towards the voice of his youngest brother, and gasped in horror at the sight of him.

Alan's usually light blond hair was caked in blood. It was round his nose and mouth. as well He had also split his lip, and from that too, blood was trickling down his chin.

"Al! Are you ok?"

With the back of his hand, Alan wiped away the blood from his chin. "Wow that was a blast. I didn't realise that when you said, you wanted to 'check out Mount Everest', you meant this close up."

"I'm sorry kiddo."

"What for?"

"Coming here. None of this would have happened, if I hadn't have wanted to check out this stupid mountain!"

"It's not your fault Scott. You didn't know that we were gonna be shot down. Anyway, what exactly hit us?"

"Missiles."

"But why would someone try and shoot us down?"

"I don't know. But who ever it was, was in a uniform."

"Army guy?"

"I don't know, I didn't really see. Damn it!"

"What is it?"

"I promised Dad I'd keep an eye on you. Guess I screwed that up, didn't I?"

"Hey, like I said, it wasn't your fault. And apart from a broken nose, broken ribs and a trapped arm, I'm fine."

"A trapped arm?"

"Yeah. It must have happened during the crash. It's completely pinned down. What about you?"

"Well I have a broken arm, a broken leg, plus more cuts and bruises than I can count."

Alan started to laugh, although this turned out to be a mistake, and he grimaced as a sharp pain, lanced through his ribs.

"Are you ok Al?"

"Yeah I'll be ok. But you do realise, that if we get out of this alive, you're gonna have to face the wrath of Grandma, and her 'broken bone routine.'

His big brother groaned. "Oh great. I'm gonna be stuck in bed for the next three months. Not to mention, that John's bound to try and treat me, the way I treated him, chastising me every five minutes."

"Well you know what they say big brother. What comes around, goes around."

"Very funny kiddo."

"Can I ask you something Scott?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"We are gonna get out of this, aren't we, alive I mean?"

Scott looked at his brother's frightened, but determined face, and found that he couldn't let him down. "Yeah kiddo, we'll get out of this. I promise."

Then under his breath: "I just wish I knew how?"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jeff Tracy sat behind his desk and frowned. Scott should have called in by now, to announce their arrival in Asia, but so far there had been nothing.

He thought for a moment, then activated a link. "Base to Thunderbird five. Come in John."

John's portrait suddenly changed, revealing a live image of his middle son. "Thunderbird five receiving. What's up Dad?"

"Has Scott called in?"

"No why?"

"Well he promised he'd call in once they got to Asia, and I'm pretty sure that they should be there by now."

"I haven't heard from him Father. Scott said something about checking out Mount Everest though, maybe they're still there and the mountains are blocking the radio signals."

"You could be right son, but could you try and do a location check, just to make sure."

"FAB"

Jeff waited while his son did the task.

"Negative Father, there's no signal. They're probably still checking out the mountain."

"Ok son, but if you don't hear anything with in the next couple of hours, I'm sending Virgil and Gordon out there."

"Very well Father."

Jeff deactivated the link and sat back in his chair. Occasionally he would glance up at the portraits, of his eldest and youngest son.

"Surely something can't have happened to them?" He thought. "No. Scott was a good pilot, they were perfectly safe."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"I'm probably going to lose my arm."

Scott looked at his brother, a mixture of shock and horror rising on his face. "You're probably going to _what_?"

"Lose my arm. I'm probably going to lose my arm."

"Alan, why do you think you're going to lose your arm?"

"Think about it Scott. My arm has been trapped for nearly an hour, maybe more. There's hardly any circulation going into it, plus both of us are starting to get minor frost bite, which can be worse in a limb when there's hardly any circulation. So that means if it gets any worse, then it'll have to be amputated. That's if we get out this of course."

Scott felt sick. But more than that, he felt responsible. It had been his idea to bring Alan on this vacation, it had been his idea to check out the mountain. And now look where they were. Both of them injured, they're watches broke and to make it worse, Alan could be losing his arm!

"Oh Al! I'm really sorry."

"Would you stop saying that! It's not your fault. Besides, something like this was bound to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Scott. Every time we go somewhere, something happens. We either get kidnapped, trapped or in my case, stuck on a bridge with Grandma and a bomb."

"You still remember that?"

"Of course I do! I'll never forget it. I still have nightmares about it."

"What are the nightmares like?"

"Me and Grandma are standing on the bridge, for some reason though there's no bomb. Suddenly part of the bridge collapses, and she falls. I reach out and grab her arm. She screams at me to hold on and not let go, but she's slipping away from me. And then I lose my grip completely. I watch her fall. She's wailing to me: "Why didn't you hold on? Why didn't you hold on?" "And then more of the bridge collapses and I fall. That's all I can remember."

"How long did the nightmare go on for?"

"A couple of weeks. Occasionally after the nightmare I would go into Grandma's room, to check if she was alright. Sometimes I would sit there all night. I guess you could say I felt responsible, like you do with this."

"But that wasn't your fault! You shouldn't blame yourself for it."

"Exactly! And you shouldn't blame yourself about this. We should be blaming that guy who shot us down. When I get my hands on him, I'm gonna ram a missile down his throat!"

"Alan, International Rescue are suppose to preserve life, remember?"

"I am preserving life Scott, my own. I'm preserving it for when I can lay my hands on that bastard!"

Alan received a look from Scott. A look that mirrored his Fathers. It said: 'I don't like the language you're using.'

"Oh come on Scott! What else would you call that guy, apart from 'blind'?"

"Well I can think of plenty of things to call him, but right now I'm saving some energy."

"Who was he?"

"I don't know. I don't think I _want _to know."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sergeant Lee knocked on the door, of the white stone building, and waited patiently. Occasionally he would glance down at his hands which were trembling slightly. He was about to come face to face with the only person in the world, who truly terrified him.

"ENTER!" Boomed a voice from within.

The sergeant slowly opened the door, and stepped gingerly inside.

The building, which consisted of only one room, had a chair and desk right at the back. Occupying this chair was a large, muscular man wearing a smart green uniform.

General Yang he was called.

"What do you want?" The general asked impatiently. "I'm a very busy man here."

"I, err, have a report to make to you sir."

"Well get on with it then, don't just stand there. I'm not a mind reader."

"Very well sir. At eighteen hundred hours I spotted a mysterious looking plane, flying over the Himalayas."

"Spy plane?"

"Yes sir. I believe so."

"What did you do?"

"I did what you commanded us to do, when a situation like that arises. I shot it down."

"Very good. Were there any survivors?"

"I don't think so sir."

"You don't _think_ so? Didn't you check it out?"

"No sir." The sergeant's reply was quiet and shameful. He flinched at the general's response.

"WHY THE HELL NOT?"

"I forgot sir."

"YOU FORGOT? DAMN IT BOY! I'LL FORGET YOU IN A MINUTE!"

Sergeant Lee began to back away, slowly.

"GET BACK OUT THERE, AND CHECK IT OUT!"

"Yes sir. Right away sir." He turned and almost tripped over, in his struggle to get to the door. He was about to open it, when he heard the generals voice behind him.

"If there _are_ any survivors, eliminate them."


	4. Elimination'

Chapter 4

_NOTE: I thought I should mention that this is TV verse. I apologise if there are any grammar errors her, as I'm afraid I don't have a beta yet, but I hope to find one soon._

_.Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story so far, they mean a lot to me. I don't know what to say! (Wipes a tear from eye)_

Jeff Tracy had had enough.

His sons should have called in by now. This wasn't like them especially Scott, he always called in several times to give his father an update on what was going on.

Call it a 'father's intuition' but Jeff knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

There was only one thing left to do. He sent an alarm to Gordon and Virgil's watches.

Gordon and Virgil came straight into the lounge.

Jeff looked his sons' up and down. "What's that in your hair, Virgil?"

Virgil ran a hand through his chestnut coloured hair. It was paint. Things had gotten a bit out of hand in the hangar. "Umm…I…It's…" Virgil tried to explain.

"Never mind" his father interrupted. "I'll speak to you about it later."

"Yes sir. What's the emergency?"

"I need you and Gordon to take Thunderbird 2 and head out to Asia, I think Scott and Alan may be in trouble."

Virgil and Gordon looked at each other their eyes widening. Their brothers were in trouble? That wasn't good.

"What makes you think they're in trouble, father?" Gordon asked.

"Well Scott hasn't called in, and John can't get a response from either of their watches."

"Do you think they could still be somewhere around the Himalayas?"

"I'm pretty sure of it. It could explain the reason why there's no signal."

"Ok father," Virgil hurried over to the painting that also acted as an entrance to Thunderbird two's hangar. "I'll get there as fast as possible."

Gordon watched his older brother disappear, and then headed for the passenger lift.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Hey Scott?" Alan looked over at his older brother who like him, was beginning to shiver as the coldness swept over them.

"Yeah Al?" Scott looked towards his younger brother and Alan noticed that his lips were beginning to turn blue, he also had no doubt that his were as well.

"Are you scared?" He felt stupid asking the question, Scott wasn't afraid of _anything_, Scott was one of the bravest men he knew. Of course all of his brothers were courageous in their own way. It was Scott who was always the first on the scene of a rescue though, it was Scott who usually decided on a plan of action; a plan which if it failed would not only risk the lives of him and his brothers, but civilians as well. It was part of the job of being a field commander though, and that job took guts, daring, brawn and brains, all of which Scott had a lot of. So why did he look so pale now?

Scott looked over at his younger brother and smiled weakly. "Yeah kiddo, to be honest I am scared."

His words shocked Alan. Fear was something he had never associated with Scott. Alan thought for a moment and then said: "Do you still want to get me back for the sundae incident?"

"Huh?" Scott looked at him, confused.

"The sundae incident. Do you still want to get me back for it?"

"Maybe. Why?"

"Well perhaps I can help you there, because you see Scott I'm begging you, literally _begging _you, please don't let me die. Not like this, 'cus I couldn't stand that. Please Scott. _Please!_""

Scott watched in horror as tears began to run down his little brother's cheeks. It was then that he began to hurt even more. But this hurt didn't come from the pain in his arm or leg. No, this pain came from his heart. It was the pain of having to watch his little brother crying his eyes out and not being able to comfort him or anything, and for Scott that hurt more than any physical pain in the world. "Oh Alan don't cry we'll be all right, I promise."

"Really?"

"Really. Have I ever let you down before? I bet Father has already sent out Virgil and Gordon to look for us. After all the old man must be pretty worried about us by now."

"Yeah I suppose you're right," Alan smiled through his tears. Scott had a special talent of being able to calm his brothers down when they were in a fix. It was another aspect that made him an excellent field commander.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Do you think they're ok?" Gordon asked as Thunderbird two flew east towards Asia.

"Virgil turned his head slightly, and answered honestly: "I don't know Gordy. Neither of them are answering the calls from base, and that means that either their watches are broken or they're both…." He couldn't bring himself to say the word.

Gordon knew what he was getting at however. "Virg we can't think like that! It could be like you said, that their watches have malfunctioned or something."

"I know but I have this horrible feeling that something's wrong, or is going to go wrong. You know?"

"Yeah I know," Gordon had that queasy feeling too.

Suddenly a new voice joined them. "Base to Thunderbird two. Do you read me Virgil?"

"Reading you loud and clear Father."

"What's your ETA son?"

"We're approximately forty minutes away."

"FAB Virgil, I want a full report of what you find."

"Yes sir," Virgil cut the link to his father.

"What do you think we'll find, Virg?" Gordon wondered.

His older brother continued to focus out of the windscreen as answered the question: "I don't know Gordon, we'll have to wait until we get there."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sergeant Lee flew through the Himalayas, the cold wind rushing through his dark hair. He had a rifle strapped to his back and he wasn't afraid to use it.

As soon as he reached Mount Everest, Sergeant Lee got off the snow mobile and began to search the area for any signs of life; his binoculars focusing mainly on the large mountain, where the crash had occurred.

He was wondering whether he should return to General Yang and tell him that he'd

found nothing, when suddenly his binoculars spotted something.

"I don't believe it" Sergeant Lee thought, shocked. "It can't be?"

But it was. There sitting approximately 4000 feet up, obviously stranded and injured, were two men.

"They're still alive!" Sergeant Lee was amazed. He had seen the remains of the jet and had presumed that both men were dead.

But they weren't. Not yet anyway.

General Yang's last words echoed in his mind: _"If there are any survivors, eliminate them."_

That was a command. As horrible as it sounded, it was a command. And commands had to be obeyed. Especially General Yang's.

Sergeant Lee took the rifle from his back, loaded it, and rose it to focus on his targets.

He paused then squeezed the trigger, and fired.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"What the….?"Scott thought as a loud bang echoed through the air. Unfortunately he didn't get a chance to find out what it was, for suddenly a sharp pain shot through his arm. He cried out in agony and instantly grabbed his injured limb which was now beginning to bleed profusely.

"SCOTT!" Alan cried, Scott what happened? Are you ok?"

Scott didn't answer.

"Scott?…..SCOTT?"

Still no answer.

"Oh God!"Alan thought desperately, he tried to lean over and check his brother, but his trapped arm made that all but impossible. He was however able to see the blood that soaked the arm of Scott's shirt.

"NO! PLEASE NO! SCOTT!" Alan shouted at the top of his voice, not caring that the volume of his cries could cause an avalanche.

However it wouldn't have made the slightest difference how loud Alan shouted. Scott couldn't hear him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sergeant Lee looked through his binoculars once more. He smiled when he noticed that his first bullet had hit its target. He put the binoculars back around his neck, and then raised the rifle for a second time.

"one to go. One down,"Sergeant Leetargeted his next victimHe pointed the sleek black weapon, and once again pulled the trigger.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Alan Tracy heard the sound of a gun once again going off. He also felt an intense pain as something hit him in the chest. He looked down and the last thing he saw before the blackness enveloped him, was the bullet hole in his shirt, and the blood.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sergeant Lee had a look of triumph on his face. His task had been completed. Both men had been 'eliminated'. He got back on the snowmobile and without a second glance drove away.


	5. Rescued!

**Chapter 5**

_Thanks to Nevair for Beta reading this for me._

"Thunderbird five to Thunderbird two. Come in Thunderbird two."

"Thunderbird two here, reading you loud and clear. What's up John?"

"Father's just briefed me. Have you found them yet Virg?"

"Not yet John, we're coming over the Himalayas now."

"Can I do anything?"

"Yeah, radio base for me. Tell Father our position, I promised I'd tell him once we got here, but something tells me we won't have time."

"FAB Virgil," John cut communications.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

On Tracy Island, Jeff was anxiously pacing the floor. Every couple of minutes he would glance up at the five portraits of his sons, as if trying to will them to give him some sort of sign that everything was going to be all right.

Suddenly a loud beeping noise echoed in his ears. He sighed with relief, and anticipation too.

"Go ahead John," Jeff answered his middle son's call.

"Father, Virgil and Gordon have arrived at the Himalayas. I'm afraid there isn't any sight of Scott or Alan." There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

Jeff sighed. "Ok son, tell them to keep searching, and to contact me if anything occurs."

"FAB." John's once active image changed to a motionless portrait again.

Jeff put his hands on his head and slowly began to massage his temples. He looked up when he heard footsteps coming across the room.

It was Kyrano carrying a mug of coffee. He placed it in front of Jeff and bowed slightly. "Don't worry Mr Tracy, your sons will be alright."

Jeff smiled fondly at his long-serving friend. "I hope you're right Kyrano. I truly do."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Can you see them yet Virgil?" Gordon asked anxiously.

His older brother was checking Thunderbird Two's scanners, for any signs of life. "Not yet Gords," he continued scanning; suddenly he spotted something, well two things actually. "Wait a minute…. I found them!"

"Where?"

"Down there, about 4000 feet up."

"Are you sure it's them?"

"I hope so, unless there's two other people trapped there."

"Ok, so what's the plan?"

"This is the plan: I'm going to hover in as close to Mount Everest as I can, then we're going to lower ourselves down in the harnesses."

"But whose going to pilot while we're doing that?"

"I'm going to activate the APS."

The APS-or the Automatic Piloting System, was a computerised program invented by Brains that allowed Thunderbird Two to pilot without assistance. However there were a couple of flaws, which Brains had been working on. The result was that Thunderbird Two could only automatically hover and fly in straight lines. It couldn't reverse or turn, which was why the APS wasn't used much.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's our only idea. Unless you have a better one."

"No, I wish Scott was here. He'd have loads of ideas." Gordon looked sadly at his brother.

"I know Gordon" Virgil replied. "I know."

Gordon ran a hand through his red hair and gave a determined smile. "Come on then Virg, let's go save our brothers."

"FAB." Virgil manoeuvred his craft as close to the mountain as he could, and then activated the APS. There was a low hum as the computer system came to life and a robotic like voice echoed out of the speakers: "APS activated, awaiting instructions."

A list of options appeared on Thunderbird Two's screen. Virgil selected 'H' for hover, while at the same time giving a sigh of relief that Brains had made the system so easy.

The computerised voice was heard once again. "Hovering functions activated. All systems are go."

After hearing this Virgil left his pilots seat and went to help his brother into the harness that would lower him to his brothers.

After checking the harnesses restraints, Virgil watched as his brother lowered himself down, carrying the medical equipment and the stretchers. He then began to put on his own harness.

Gordon felt the cold wind rush through his red hair. He was now becoming increasingly worried; his eldest and younger brothers hadn't moved an inch. It wasn't impossible to tell that they were both seriously injured.

As he landed on the rocky ledge where his two brothers lay, the first thing he noticed, apart from the blood, was the rubble pinning Alan's arm down.

Gordon rushed to his younger brother and knelt beside him. With an expert eye and careful hands, Gordon checked Alan's injuries: Fractured nose, fractured ribs, over a dozen cuts and bruises, plus he seemed to be bleeding a lot around the chest area.

Carefully Gordon unbuttoned Alan shirt. He gave a small gasp of horror when he saw the bullet hole in his chest; the blood seeping around it like a small puddle.

"Oh Alan…!" Gordon thought, horrified. "Who did this to you?"

With fingers that were now trembling slightly, Gordon checked for a pulse. He almost cried out with immense joy when he found one.

Gordon began trying to stem the bleeding by bandaging the wound.

"What's going on, Gordon?" Virgil's voice spoke out of Gordon's wrist communicator.

Never letting his eyes leave his brother's chest, Gordon replied: "I've just checked Alan over, he's not good Virg. He's suffered a fractured nose as well as at least four of his ribs, cuts and bruises, he's also been shot."

"Shot! Where?"

"His chest. The bullet hole's situated at the base of it, just below the heart."

"Does he have a pulse?"

"Affirmative. It's weak though. His arm's trapped as well, I'll need you down here to help me remove some of the smaller pieces of rubble, then we should be able to free it."

"FAB. What about Scott?"

"I don't know. I'm about to check him." Gordon moved over to his eldest brother's still form, and knelt down. He checked Scott's injuries just as he had Alans. Scott had a fractured arm and leg, plus he had just as many cuts and bruises as Alan. Maybe more.

The redheaded Tracy then checked for a pulse. He found one. But before he could cry out in joy, he noticed the blood coming from Scott's arm.

"Not you too, Scott?" He carefully rolled up his brother's sleeve and was greeted by the bloody bullet hole.

Who would do this? Who would _want_ to do this?

Suddenly Scott's eyes flicked and opened. He groaned slightly, seeing only shapes at first. Then a red head came into view. "Gordon? Is that you?"

Gordon had been busy trying to stem the blood flow from Scott's arm. His head snapped up at the sound of his brother's voice. "Hey bro, we found you. What happened?"

"I don't remember" Scott moaned, "one minute we were flying over the mountains, the next we were flying _into_ them!"

"But how? Did you lose control?"

"No, we were shot at."

"Shot at! By who?"

"Don't know, Alan and I didn't see him……Alan! Is he ok? Please tell me he's ok?" Scott tried to sit up, so as to see his youngest brother, he was gently pushed back down by Gordon though.

"Don't move Scott. Alan's still unconscious, he was shot in the chest."

"The chest! Oh God!" Once again Scott tried to sit up- only to be pushed down again.

"Scott, would you do as you're told and keep still?" Gordon once again pushed his brother back down, he then spoke into his communicator: "Virgil are you coming? I really need your help and Scott's getting restless."

Up in Thunderbird Two Virgil checked the restraints and then replied: "I'm on my way down."

"FAB."

Virgil lowered himself down, feeling the cold wind rushing through his chestnut hair. A minute later he was at Gordon's side. "How is he?"

"He'll be alright, I've bandaged his arm and he's conscious so that's a good thing. I'm worried about Alan, he hasn't come round and his pulse is weak."

Virgil knelt down beside his older brother. "Ok Scott, me and Gordon have to go and help Alan, then we'll get you both back up to the Thunderbird, ok?"

Scott smiled weakly, "ok."

Virgil and Gordon went over to their other brother and began to remove the rubble. They were able to remove the smaller pieces individually, but the bigger ones took both of them.

Finally though Alan's arm was free.

Virgil checked it over. "It's fractured, hand me the stretcher."

Gordon did as his brother asked and handed over the anti-gravity stretcher, then both of them carefully manoeuvred their younger brother onto it.

"I'll take him back up," Gordon said.

"FAB Gordon."

Because the stretcher was an anti-gravity one it was possible for just one person to manoeuvre it. Gordon got hold of it and began to ascend carefully back up to Thunderbird Two.

Meanwhile Virgil went back over to Scott and knelt down again. "I'm gonna have to move you onto the stretcher in a minute, but first I need to splint your arm and leg."

"Fine by me" Scott replied. "How's Alan? Has he come round yet?"

Virgil began splintering Scott's arm. "No, not yet. Gordon's taken him back up to the craft; he's still unconcious."

Scott looked at Virgil sadly, "It's my fault," he said quietly.

"Why is it your fault? What happened?"

Scott explained about how they had been flying over Everest when all of a sudden they were fired at with missiles.

"But how is that your fault, Scott?" Virgil asked gently.

"If I hadn't of wanted to 'check out Mount Everest', none of this would have happened," Scott sniffed back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Listen to me Scott" Virgil ordered. "None of this was your fault, you got that? You didn't know this was going to happen."

Scott managed a weak laugh, "That's just what Alan said."

"And he's right….For once. Come on lets get you onto the stretcher, and into Thunderbird Two."

"Ok."

Working together Virgil managed to get Scott onto the stretcher, and then began to pull himself up into his craft; thanking God that the stretcher was an anti-gravity one.

Back in the Thunderbird, Gordon had Alan on one of the beds in the sick bay. He was checking his pulse again.

Virgil got Scott onto the other bed. "I'm going to give you a dose of morphine for the pain."

"Very well," Scott tried not to grimace as he felt the needle go into him. He breathed a sigh of relief, and slowly let his eyes shut as the sedative side of the morphine took over.

Virgil ran a hand through his elder brother's hair, and then went over to Gordon.

"I've checked his blood pressure and it's low, we need to get them to a hospital fast." Gordon said.

Virgil was de-activating the APS. "I know, I'll radio Father and tell him that we're taking them to the hospital in Hong Kong."

"Ok Virg."

Virgil activated the link to Tracy Island. "Thunderbird two to Tracy island."

His Father answered almost immediately. "Have you found them, son?"

"Affirmative Father. We're taking them to the hospital in Hong Kong."

"How are they?"

"Well Scott's got a fractured arm and leg, he's also been shot in the arm. Alan….Alan seems worse. He was shot in the chest, just below the heart. He's also got a fractured arm and approximately four fractured ribs, plus a fractured nose too."

Jeff Tracy felt sick. "Ok son, I want to you to take them to the hospital as fast as you can, got it?"

"Got it."

"FAB. Good luck son, and watch out for them, ok?"

"I will Father. Don't worry."

"I'm your Father, it's my job." With that Jeff closed the link. "Please let them be alright," he thought desperately.

_Note: Well that was chapter five, sorry it took so long. Something tells me I'm going to need a sequel._

_I'm also working on a horror for Thunderbirds. It involves a haunted hotel, thirteen terrifying floors, a mirror into another world, a headless guy and a hell of a lot of keys._

_Once again I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed Stranded._

_Feliz Navidad. That's Spanish for merry Christmas. I'm not actually Spanish I've just learnt it at school._


	6. At the hospital

Chapter 6

Sergeant Lee knocked tentatively on General Yang's door.

"ENTER!" A voice boomed from within.

The sergeant slowly stepped inside and stood in the doorway, ready to report to his boss.

"Well?" Inquired the general, "did you eliminate them?"

"Yes sir, they've been eliminated."

"Excellent! Well done sergeant, nothing can stop me now! Soon I will have complete control of all the militaries, and very soon the world!"

"Yes sir."

"Go and get Dr White and ask him if he has finished with the you-know-what."

"Yes sir," Sergeant Lee slipped quietly out of the door.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The hospital at Hong Kong was a flurry of medics, nurses and surgeons.

Jeff Tracy had radioed the hospital to inform them that International Rescue would be bringing in the two plane crash victims, and to make room for them when they landed.

This request had been carried out, and now Gordon and Virgil watched as their two brothers were rushed down the hospital corridors and into theatre.

They were sitting on the leather couches in the waiting room when their father arrived with, surprisingly, John.

"John!" Gordon jumped up and hugged his older brother, Virgil followed suit. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad came and got me," John replied. "He thought I should be down here with my family."

Jeff smiled and nodded at his middle son, then turned to the other two. "How are Scott and Alan?"

"They've been taken into theatre; they both need blood transfusions and surgery to remove the bullets." Virgil gave his father what little information the doctor had given him.

"They're going to be ok though, aren't they?" John asked anxiously.

It was Gordon who answered. "Scott's going to be fine, hopefully. He came round on the mountain." His eyes became sad as he looked down the corridor, as if following the path his brothers had took, when they were taken away. "But Alan seems worse, he hasn't come round yet, he was shot in the chest."

"But who would want to shoot them?"

Gordon shrugged. "Maybe the same person who shot the plane down."

"Someone shot down the jet!" Jeff cried, aghast.

Virgil and Gordon nodded. "Yeah, they were flying over Mount Everest when suddenly they were fired upon. It came as such a surprise that they didn't have time to respond," Virgil said.

The four men were silent for a while, trying to picture what Scott and Alan must have went through: Shot down, stranded on a mountain for hours then shot again. And what for, none of them knew.

"I'll tell you one thing though," John replied after a while. "If they find out who did this, I'm going to be the first in line to teach the bastard a lesson!"

"Well I'm going to be first with you!" Gordon said, his normally cheery eyes blazing in anger.

"Me too," Virgil added.

"Now boys, you know full well I don't like violence from you. It will just mean that you have sunk to their level," Jeff chided them.

"Whose level?" Gordon asked, "we don't even know who shot them."

"Exactly," Jeff replied. "There will be a full investigation on this, then we'll find out who tried to kill Scott and Alan, but what they won't want is us stirring things up."

Before his sons could say anything, a surgeon appeared, carrying a clipboard. He was wearing a surgical mask which he removed when he spoke to Jeff.

"Mr Tracy," the man spoke with a typical Asian accent. "My name is Doctor Ling, I'm Scott's surgeon, thankyou for waiting."

"How is he?" Jeff asked.

"He will survive. We removed the bullet and replaced the blood he lost. We also set him arm and leg; the arm will need to be in a cast for a month and the leg, three months, he's in recovery now. He should come round in about an hour, you can go and see him then."

"I don't think Scott's not going to like that," John surmised.

"Excuse me?" The doctor looked at him, confused.

"Our brother hates keeping still for any amount of time. He's very active."

The doctor smiled. "Well Scott will just have to learn to be _inactive_ for a while."

"What about Alan?" The question came from Virgil.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about Alan, all I know is that he is still in surgery. If you will wait a few more minutes, I will go and fetch Doctor Nam-he's Alan's surgeon."

With that he turned and walked down the corridor.

The four Tracy's watched him go.

"Well that's the first piece of good news," Gordon said when he had gone. "Let's hope that Alan's surgeon has the second."

His brothers and father nodded in unison.

They didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later Doctor Nam appeared, he was also wearing a surgical mask.

Doctor Nam removed his mask. "Mr Tracy, I'm Doctor Nam, Alan's surgeon. I'm afraid Alan is still in surgery. Is condition is a bit more extreme than Scotts. Alan is a very lucky young man, someone up there must really like him."

Jeff heard John lean towards his brothers and whisper softly: "Mom."

Virgil and Gordon smiled and nodded.

Doctor Nam failed to notice, and continued with Alan's assessment. "The bullet missed Alan's heart by three centimeters, we're working to remove it now. However, because of its position the procedure will take a while."

"can we see him?" Gordon asked anxiously.

"I'm afraid not," the doctor replied. "It is pretty hectic in there, why do you not go down to the café, and I will come and get you"

"Ok," Jeff replied, "Come on boys." He turned back to Doctor Nam, "promise you'll come and get me if anything goes wrong, with Alan or Scott."

"I promise," Doctor Nam smiled.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ruth Tracy sat at a round wooden table in the hospitals café. She absently stirred her Chinese tea, while she waited for her son and grandsons to return.

This wasn't the first time that Ruth had been to the hospital, though she had never been to a hospital in China. But of course because of the risks her grandsons took in rescues, it was pretty obvious that she would be making a few hospital visits.

Ruth looked up when she saw Jeff come in, followed be John, Gordon and Virgil. She stood up and waved them over.

"How are they?" She asked as Jeff sat down.

"Scott's out of surgery, but Alan's still in there. They say his operation is a bit more complicated because of the position of the bullet."

"Do we know what happened to them?"

Gordon answered her. "We still don't know, Grandma. While we were at the rescue Scott told me that they were shot down."

"Oh my! Why?"

"They don't know. Neither Scott nor Alan saw them, just like they didn't see who shot them."

"I really hope they find that person. There certainly are a lot of evil beings in this world."

The four Tracy men agreed.

Just over an hour later, Virgil glanced at his watch and stood up. "I'm going to find Scott, I want to be there for when he wakes up. Are you guys coming?"

"Yeah!" Gordon said enthusiastically.

They left the café and walked down to the main reception area. A woman behind the desk pointed the way to the ward Scott was on. It was easy to find, due to all the helpful arrows on the wall, and pretty soon they found themselves at Scott's room.

Surprisingly, Scott was already awake.

"Hi guys," he groaned. He was still in pain and normal volume of speech seemed inadequate.

"How are you, son?" Jeff asked, coming to sit in a comfortable chair at the head of the bed.

"Well apart from the broken arm, broken leg, my gunshot wound, plus the cuts and bruises, I'm fine!"

"Ok….. Now tell me the truth," Jeff folded his arms and gave his eldest a look that said: 'you can't fool me.'

Scott groaned. "What do you want me to say Dad? That I ache all over, I have pains in places I didn't even know I had and even my muscle cramps have cramps?"

"Yes!" Jeff shook his head and sighed. "Why do you do that Scott? You're permitted to feel pain too, you're only human after all."

Scott ignored the question. "How's Alan?"

"Alan's still in surgery," John answered. "They're still working to remove the bullet. Don't you remember anything of what happened to you?"

"Not much. We were flying over Mount Everest, Alan was annoying me with his constant questions: "Are we there yet Scott?" "What's that Scott?" Suddenly there was a loud explosion and I lost control of the plane. The next thing I knew we were on the mountain."

"What about when you were shot?"

That's a bigger mystery. All I remember is feeling a searing pain in my arm, then I must have passed out."

Scott noticed Ruth. "Hey Grandma, what are you doing here?"

"Where did you think I would be?" Ruth wanted to know. "At home, knitting?"

"No Grandma," Scott smiled. "Besides, you don't like knitting."

"No I don't. The day you see me sitting in the corner of the lounge knitting, is the day you can pack me off to a retirement home!"

"Or a mental asylum for the elderly," Gordon added cheekily. "If I know you Grandma, you won't just use those needles for knitting!"

"Oi! Watch it, young man!" She reached up and hit him on the back of the head.

Gordon grinned at her, while rubbing it with the palm of his hand.

"Just think Scott," John laughed "It's your turn to go through Grandma's recovery routine! Think about it, doing absolutely nothing all day. Now it's my turn to fuss over you, and I mean _fuss_. What's your favourite bedtime story Scott? I'll read it to you if you like."

Scott groaned and made a face at his younger brother, then he turned to his grandma. "You're not going to make me go through that 'broken leg routine' are you?"

"No dear, you don't have to go through the 'broken leg routine.'"

Scott emitted a sigh of relief and grinned at John, his smile saying 'nice try little brother'.

However his grandma continued. "You're going to go through the 'Ruth Tracy routine'"

Scott's face dropped. "What's the 'Ruth Tracy routine?'

"It's the next stage up, the ultimate of my routines, guaranteed to get you up and about again faster than you can say "penicillin""

"Penicillin" Gordon muttered. Beside him Vigil and John giggled quietly.

"What does the routine involve?" Scott asked, knowing instantly that he wouldn't like it.

"It involves you staying in bed all day, doing absolutely nothing. I mean _nothing_ young man. No helping out with you-know-what, no sugary stuff we don't want you upsetting your stomach, no swimming- you won't be doing that anyway, no messing about with your brothers," she looked at her younger grandsons as she said this. They nodded their heads vigorously in agreement. "And most of all no working or moving about! You got me?"

Scott stared at his grandma, trying to contemplate what she had just said. Was she kidding! He couldn't stay in bed all day! Imagine how bored he'd be! But there was one thing his grandma had said that Scott _really_ didn't like.

"Why can't I have sugary stuff, Grandma? I didn't hurt my stomach."

Virgil, Gordon and John burst out laughing.

"Oh God, Scott!" Virgil shook his head and grinned. "You always think of food first! But don't worry, I'm sure if you _beg_ Grandma might let you have something. Though I don't think you'll be able to go on two knees for a while."

"If I had my crutches, I'd give you such a belting." Scott scowled, an action which only made his brothers laugh harder.

"Haven't you told Grandma about your little sundae incident?" Gordon asked, through tears of laughter.

"What are you talking about, young man?" Ruth asked.

"I'd like to know as well," Jeff added.

Before Scott could protest, Gordon began telling his grandma about Alan, Scott and the sundae.

"Oh Scott," Ruth shook her head sympathetically. "If you really wanted one of my sundaes, you could have come and asked me."

"Though she'll probably make you scrub the floor in return," Jeff said good naturedly.

"Jeff Tracy, don't be so cheeky!" Ruth scolded her son, smacking him lightly on the wrist.

"Yes Mother," Jeff muttered. He lightly rubbed his wrist.

At that moment a doctor ran into the room, wearing a frantic look on his face. Neither Jeff nor the boys recognised him.

"Here you are! Mr Tracy, you must come, something is wrong with Alan!"

Jeff spun round. "Boys stay here." He began to follow the doctor out of the room.

Gordon, wanting to know what was wrong with his one and only little brother, ignored his father's orders and followed.

In the surgery room, there were doctors everywhere fussing around Alan.

"BP is dropping!"

"He's gone into cardiac arrest!"

"Bring me the defibrillators!"

Outside the surgical room, Gordon and Jeff watched as the doctors crowded around Alan.

"What are they doing?" Gordon asked anxiously, pressing his hands against the glass window.

"I thought I told you to stay behind," Jeff responded.

"I couldn't, not when I know that there's something wrong with Alan!" Gordon cried, "what is wrong with him anyway?"

"He's gone into cardiac arrest," the doctor said. "They're currently trying to get his heart to function again, using the defibrillators."

Above the noise of the surgeons, Gordon could hear the heart monitor. But instead of the usual rhythm of the heart pumping, indicated by the steady beeping, the heart monitor was emitting one long line, indicating the lack of a heartbeat.

"Please help him," Gordon had never heard his father sound so desperate. "How did this happen?"

"We don't know yet, sometimes patients can go into cardiac arrest for no reason. However we knew there could be a risk of this due to how close the bullet was to the heart. We'll do some tests. All you can do is hope for the best, we are doing everything we can to revive your son."

Gordon and Jeff watched as Alan's body jolted up and down with each shock emitted.

"Charge 300, stand clear!"

Nothing

"Charge 300 again, stand clear!"

The monitor stayed the same.

"Again! Stand clear!"

Gordon and Jeff watched as Alan fought for his life, having no concept of time passing.

Eventually Doctor Nam put down the defibrillators, and came outside to meet the two Tracys who had been observing the scene.

When he looked at Jeff, his eyes were sad and lost. "We have been trying for half an hour, Mr Tracy. I think we should stop."

_NOTE: My deepest apologies for the delay in this chapter and I beg forgiveness from my faithful readers._

_Once again thankyou to everyone who has reviewed. I really appreciate it. Give yourselves a pat on the back!_


	7. Grief and a miracle

Chapter 7

_Note: Just in case you should need them, I would get the tissues ready._

"_Alan…Alan…," the voice carried like a soft breeze._

"_Where am I?" Alan thought to himself. "Where is that voice coming from?"_

_Alan looked around, not quite believing what he was seeing._

_He was in a meadow. A rainbow carpet of flowers spread out before him and the sun shone high in the cloudless sky warming his body, creating quite a contrast to the coldness he had felt on Mount Everest._

"_Alan…," that voice again. "Alan look at me, sweetheart."_

_Sweetheart. She had called him sweetheart._

_Turning around, Alan found himself face to face with the one woman in his life who he had heard so much about, but had never knew himself, due to how cruel the world could be sometimes._

"_Mom?" Alan's voice was barely a whisper._

_Lucille Tracy nodded sadly. "Yes sweetheart, it's me."_

_Alan took in his mom's beautiful features; her long chestnut hair, her sparkling brown eyes and rosy cheeks._

"_She hasn't aged," Alan thought to himself. "I guess you don't when you're dead."_

"_How come I can see you?" Alan asked. "Am I dead too?"_

_Sadly, Lucille nodded. "Yes sweetheart, but you don't have to be. It's not your turn to go yet. Your father, your brothers, they still need you. You have to fight. You have to be brave, like I know you can be."_

_Alan had tears running down his cheeks. "I want to stay with you, I want to know you, I want to be with you."_

_Lucille reached out, stroking his cheek. "I know you do sweetheart, but like I said, it's not your turn. You have to fight, you have to wake up. I'm sorry I had to leave you so young, but you'll see me again one day, I'll be here waiting for you."_

"_Promise?"_

"_I promise."_

_Alan sniffed back the tears. "Ok Mom, I'll go back, I love you."_

"_I love you too, sweetheart."_

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Jeff Tracy blinked, unable to come to terms with what Doctor Nam was asking. "What did you say?"

"Do you want me to carry on trying to revive Alan, Mr Tracy?"

Jeff looked through the clear glass, watching his youngest son lying deathly still on the operation table. Then he slowly looked around at Gordon who was stood beside him.

Gordon was as white as a sheet, but glistening tears were streaming down his cheeks, dripping off his chin and onto the tiled floor. He looked helplessly at his father.

"What do you want us to do, Mr Tracy?" Doctor Nam asked.

Jeff had never felt so helpless. What was he going to do? The last time he had had to make a decision like this was when Lucille died. "I don't know," he admitted sadly, collapsing against the wall, feeling his own tears coursing down his cheeks.

Gordon rounded on him, his puffy red eyes blazing in anger. "What! You don't know? He's asking if you want him to try and bring Alan back, and you _don't know_!"

"Gordon…." Jeff didn't know what to say.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" Gordon shouted, taking off down the corridor. "I HATE YOU! AND I BET ALAN WILL HATE YOU TOO! YOU'RE GIVING UP ON HIM!"

Jeff watched his second son go. He was right. He was giving up on Alan.

Jeff turned to Doctor Nam. "Keep trying until I get back."

"But Mr Tracy…."

"Do it! You asked what I wanted to do, and this is it."

"Very well Mr Tracy, but his chances are extremely slim."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Gordon ran into Scott' s room and collapsed in a ball against the wall. He grasped fistfuls of his auburn hair in anguish and began rocking back and forth, moaning. "No! No! No!"

John ran over and crouched beside him, Virgil came on the other side. "Gordon, what's wrong?"

Gordon looked up at his two older brothers, choking on every word that came out of his mouth. "Alan…heart…didn't know what to do…have to revive him….I hate Dad!"

"Gordon you're not making any sense."

Gordon tried to make his brothers understand. From his bed, Scott was slowly sitting up, in an attempt to see Gordon who was still on the floor. "Gordon? What is it? Is Alan ok?"

Slowly Gordon shook his head. "No, Alan's….." He couldn't bring himself to say the word, but it was true. Alan was dead. His heart had stopped, and that officially made him dead.

But he needn't have said anything. From where he was sitting, Scott slowly began to shake his head from side to side. "No, please no. Tell me he's not….."

Gordon could only nod, "I'm sorry guys."

Suddenly there was a loud bang as John angrily began kicking the wall, tears streaming down his face. "He can't be dead! He can't be!"

Virgil pulled his younger brother away from the wall, and into his arms. He slowly began stroking John's light blonde hair. As he did so, Virgil began to cry himself. He looked over at his older brother.

Scott was staring into space, as if in deep a trance. Tears were running slowly down his cheeks, but he didn't wipe them away. It was extremely rare to see Scott crying, and his brothers didn't know what to do.

Gordon, who had got up off the floor, slowly began to walk over to Scott's bedside. He sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around his oldest brother. It felt strange that he should be comforting Scott, it was usually the other way around.

Scott was mumbling something quietly, "I let him down. I promised I'd look after him, and I let him down."

"No you didn't, Scott. It wasn't your fault. Do you hear me?"

"But I promised I'd look after him."

"And you did. You didn't know what was going to happen."

At that moment their Grandma walked in. In his grief Gordon hadn't noticed her absence.

Ruth looked around at all her grandsons; crying. It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened.

"No," she sobbed. "Not Alan….please….not Alan."

John pulled himself away from Virgil, having calmed down a bit. He wrapped his arms around the elderly woman and hugged her tight. "I'm sorry Grandma." He could feel her body shaking with tears. "I'm so sorry."

"What are going to tell Tintin?"

Tintin! They'd forgotten all about her. She was going to be devastated; her and Alan were extremely close, all the family knew how they felt about each other.

"I don't know, Grandma," John answered truthfully. "I really don't know."

"Why Alan? Why him? What did he ever do?"

John honestly didn't have an answer to that. "And if I did," John thought to himself. "I'd probably be the cleverest man on earth, maybe I could even have saved Mom as well."

The door slowly opened and Jeff walked in, mentally bracing himself for what he was going to face.

Gordon leapt of the bed and ran towards his father. With a strength he didn't even know he had, Gordon threw him against the wall and pinned him there. He screamed into his father's face: I HATE YOU! YOU GAVE UP ON HIM!"

"Gordon…" Jeff tried to get through to his second youngest,-or was he the youngest now?

But Gordon didn't give him a chance. "HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO? HE'S YOUR SON! HE'S MY LITTLE BROTHER!"

"LISTEN TO ME!" Jeff shouted, momentarily stunning his son into silence. "The doctors are still trying to revive him, I've told them to keep going until I get back."

"So…So there's still a chance…he may come back?" Ruth wiped the tears out of her eyes, "that he may survive?"

Through eye's misted with tears, Jeff looked at his watch. "It's been nearly fifty minutes, his chances are slim Mother, we have to face that."

"What's going to happen if Alan's still…." Virgil couldn't get the words out, but his father knew what he was trying to say.

"I..I..I don't know son, we'll just have to accept the fact that Alan's……not coming back." As he said those words, Jeff began to sob harder. Images of Alan flashed through his mind; both as a child and as an adult: his first word-"Daddy"-, his first steps, his first day at school, his eighteenth birthday-that was a wild night, and a whole range of other images as well.

"Oh Jeff…." Ruth Tracy wrapped her arms around her only son, and held him tight.

"I want him back, Mother," he sobbed against her shoulder. "I want him back."

Around the room the four brothers watched as their father broke down. He was usually so strong and together, when you ran an organisation like International Rescue, toughness was adequate.

Scott felt a cloud of guilt descend over him. No matter what anyone said, he knew he would always blame himself for this.

Virgil began thinking about his little brother's reckless attitude. He had always thought-though he never told anyone- that the attitude would be the cause of Alan's death. How wrong he was. It was another guy's evil attitude that was-_could_-,Virgil tried to remember that, be the cause of his little brother's death.

John was thinking that he would have loved to have spent more time with Alan. They hardly saw each other, one of them was always on Thunderbird five.

Gordon was trying to contemplate what life would be like without his little brother. Who was he going to joke around, and pull pranks on his older brothers with? Who was he going to talk to when he was down? Gordon loved being a big brother; apart from anything to do with water, pulling pranks and operating Thunderbird four, it was one of the things he knew he was _good_ at. How would he cope if that was taken away from him?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

_Alan was lost, he didn't know how to get back._

"_Where do I go?" He asked. He didn't want to be trapped with nowhere to go._

"_Follow the light, honey," Lucille called after him. "Follow the light, they all want you back. Just follow the light."_

_Ahead of him, Alan saw a bright light. It seemed to rise over the horizon and hover towards him._

_Taking a deep breath-though he didn't feel the breath come out-Alan stepped toward the light._

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Charging 300, stand clear," Doctor Nam was keeping his promise to Jeff.

Nothing.

"Again. Charging 300, stand clear."

Nothing. The monitor remained the same.

_beeeeeeeeeeep. _

"Doctor, we have been trying for an hour now," one of the surgeons pointed out

"We will try once more," Doctor Nam replied. "Then we will call it a day, ok?"

The other surgeons agreed.

"Ok, lets take the voltage up, charging 350, stand clear." Doctor Nam pressed the defibrillators down on Alan's chest.

_Beeeeeeeep..beep…beep…beep……_

Doctor Nam's head snapped around to look at the monitor in amazement. "I do not believe it…….He's back."

_Note: Aww…Did you really think I would kill Alan? I'm not that mean! Besides, I need him for my sequel. He has more torture to come then. Hmm….Maybe I am mean._

_I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my latest chapters, and I apologise for the lack of a tissue warning, but I remembered it in this chapter! _


	8. Chatting

Chapter 8

"Can I go home yet?" Scott asked his father who sat in a chair beside him.

"Scott, that's got to be the third time you've asked that in the last five minutes." Jeff laughed, looking at his watch.

"Well I'm bored!"

It had been a week since the accident on Mount Everest. Alan's surgery had been a success; they had removed the bullet and performed a successful blood transfusion. The youngest Tracy was now in a room similar to Scott's, recovering. He had regained consciousness in the early hours of the morning after his life-saving surgery.

Alan's father, grandmother, and brothers had never been more relieved than they were when Doctor Nam had entered Scott's room, informing the distraught Tracys that they had managed to revive Alan after he had gone into cardiac arrest.

Jeff shook his head at his eldest son. Would that boy ever learn to take it easy for once? "You're suppose to be relaxing, Scott."

"Dad, if I relaxed any further I'd be dead…" suddenly Scott realised what he'd said. "Oh God, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Scott. I know that hospitals aren't exactly the greatest places on earth."

"You're telling me! How's Alan?"

"He's recovering well, I spoke to him earlier; he wants to go home just as much as you do."

"I can't wait to go home, though I'm not particularly looking forward to being put through the 'Ruth Tracy routine'. Scott shuddered at the thought of staying in bed all day with his grandma constantly fussing over him, though he knew that she only had his best interests at heart.

"Don't worry, Scott, you'll soon be back on your feet and into the air." Jeff reassured his son.

"How long am I going to be off International Rescue for?"

"Well your arm will need to be in cast for a month," Jeff explained what Doctor Ling had told him when his sons first arrived at the hospital. "And your leg three months, plus you'll probably need another two weeks to completely recuperate, so it'll probably be close to four months."

Scott's mouth dropped open. "Four months! I can't be off for four months! The guys will need me out there!"

"Calm down Scott, you don't have choice, -unless you have some crazy idea that you're going to be capable of piloting Thunderbird One with only one working arm and a broken leg, because I don't think either the airforce or the International Rescue training taught you how to do that."

Scott sunk into his pillow. His father was right, he wasn't exactly in a good position to go out rescuing people in the face of danger.

"Tell you what," Jeff said in an attempt to cheer his eldest son up, "why don't you take my place while you're recovering?"

"You mean be in charge of International rescue?"

"Sure. It doesn't require much moving around, and it'll give you a chance to get used to the requirements for when you eventually take over."

"Take over! You're not retiring are you?"

Jeff laughed, "No, Scott, I'm not retiring, but I can't head International Rescue forever and I'm also not going to be around forever either. I could croak it right now. Nearly losing Alan made me realise that."

"Ok, this conversation is getting a little morbid now."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know, Dad. I know."

"So, do you want to or not?"

"Do I want to what?"

"Be in charge."

"Sure! But what about Grandma?"

"I'll have a word with Grandma, I'm sure she'll support my idea."

"You hope," Scott thought wryly.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Nowremember what I told you, Alan," Ruth Tracy said as her youngest grandson lay in his hospital bed.

Alan mentally rolled his eyes. "Yes Grandma I remember; no moving or working hard when I get home."

"And make sure you keep remembering that."

Alan groaned as a sharp pain shot through his ribs. He knew how extremely painful broken ribs could be, yet he also knew that he was lucky to be alive. However, he couldn't help thinking about his 'meeting' with his mom. Had he dreamt that, or did it really happen?

"Grandma, can I tell you something?" Alan asked.

"Sure honey, go ahead."

"You might not believe me."

Now Ruth was becoming worried. Whatever could her grandson want to tell her, but she might not believe? "Alan, what is it?"

Taking a deep breath, Alan closed his eyes. "I saw Mom."

When he opened his eyes his grandma was staring at him in shock, as if trying to comprehend what grandson had just said. He was right, it was pretty unbelievable. How many people in this world can honestly say that they have been visited by their deceased mother?

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, sweetheart?"

"I'm pretty sure, Grandma. She looked exactly like she did on the day she died and she was wearing a long, silky red dress."

Suddenly Ruth flew a hand to her mouth, tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. Images of her young daughter-in-law flashed into her mind; images of Lucille at her funeral -wearing a red dress.

"Grandma what's wrong?" Alan asked, concerned. "I didn't mean to upset you but I'm telling the truth."

Ruth leaned forward and took hold of Alan's hand, "I know you are, honey. I know because your mom was wearing that red dress at her funeral, your father bought it as an anniversary gift. You were only a baby when she died, and I don't think anyone ever told you what she had been wearing, did they?"

Alan shook his head, relief sweeping through him. "No, no one liked to talk about Mom, and by the time I was old enough to understand it was like they had forgotten what she was wearing, maybe because they preferred to remember _her_, rather than what she was wearing."

"I don't think your father or brothers ever forgot your mom, they just didn't want you to be upset that you never got to know her, they were trying to protect you. When did you see her?"

"While I was in surgery, it must have been when I went into cardiac arrest. I found myself standing in a meadow, and she was there. I asked her if I was dead and she nodded, but told me that it wasn't meant to be my turn and that I had to go back. I didn't want to though, I wanted to stay with Mom because I wanted to get to know her personally, but she convinced me to go back."

"How did she convince you?" Ruth asked through her tears, as she listened to Alan recounting what happened.

"She told me that my father and brothers needed me -so do you. I realised that she was right. I mean, who would Scott be able to boss around? Who would Virgil annoy with his constant knowledge of Mozart? Who would John talk to about the fascination of space? I know the others would listen to him without hesitation, by I'm the only one who can personally understand what it's truly like because I'm there myself. Who would Gordon have a laugh with about his latest prank? Who would Father constantly chastise about the dangers of risking your neck?"

"You're right about all those things," Ruth said. "Your father and brothers do need you, and I need you as well. Who else would help me make those strawberry sundaes otherwise? I couldn't ask Scott to because he'd eat the strawberries!"

Alan chuckled, "did Scott tell you about what happened with the sundae?"

"No, but Gordon did. I can't believe how much your big brother loves food! I'm thinking about putting him on a diet."

Despite the pain in his ribs Alan burst out laughing, though this turned out to be a mistake as another pain shot through his chest and he grimaced.

"Are you ok?" Ruth asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine Grandma, you know me, I'm a fighter."

"You're a Tracy."

"Exactly!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

On Tracy island Virgil was playing the piano. It was a tune that John had never heard before, but he liked it all the same. The tune was soft and carried like a breeze, creating a welcoming, cosy atmosphere.

"What song's that?" John asked after his brother had finished, "I've never heard it before."

"I'm not surprised," replied Virgil, "I wrote it myself."

"Wow, Virg that's great! What's it called?"

"I'm thinking of calling it 'Miracle', due to the fact that it's a miracle we didn't lose two brothers today."

"Are you going to play it when Scott and Alan come home?"

"Do you think I should?"

"Of course! They'll love it!"

Just then Tintin entered the room. "I've just been talking to your father."

"What did he say?" John asked.

"He said that everything was ok; Scott's eager to get out of there, and Alan's doing fine as well. He's talking to your grandma."

"Well that's good to hear, Scott's acting like his typical self." Virgil said.

"Oh that reminds me," Tintin suddenly remembered, "your father also told me to tell you that he will be putting Scott in charge of International Rescue, just until he recovers well enough to be able to pilot Thunderbird One again."

"He's put Scott in charge? Does he know what he's doing?"

"You should have a bit more faith in your brother." Tintin admonished Virgil.

"I do have faith in him -a lot actually, but don't you remember what happened the last time he was in charge, during the Seascape incident?"

"He directed a successful rescue if I remember rightly."

"Was that before or after Father gave him a tongue lashing for sending us out when we weren't needed?"

"Scott made one mistake, it was his first time."

"He still made a mistake."

"Did he make a mistake sending you out the second time, when you had to rescue those two men?"

"No," Virgil admitted. "He was great!"

"Yeah he was," John added. " Anyway, he's not exactly going to be able to do anything physical, and this will, hopefully, prevent him from doing what he does best when injured or immobile."

"And what's that?" Tintin asked.

Virgil and John looked at each other and smiled knowingly, "bossing us around!" John answered.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gordon sat on the edge of the swimming pool, water dripping off his red hair and running down his back. He couldn't stop thinking about how close he had come to becoming the youngest Tracy.

He was still thinking about it when a shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see who it was. "Oh, hi Brain."

The young scientist stood beside him. "Hi Gordon, are y-y-you ok?"

"Yeah, Brain I'm fine. I was just thinking about Scott and Alan, that's all. I want to know who would do this to them, there's no reason -not one we know of anyway. Do you know who could have done this?"

"I'm a-a-afraid to say I don't G-Gordon."

"Well I hope we find out soon."

"So do I Gordon, so do I."

NOTE: _I know there was a lot of chatting in that chapter but those Tracy boys just love to talk._

_I decided to put a bit of Tintin and Brain in at the end because we haven't heard from them yet, and I didn't want you to think that they had suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances. _


	9. Back home

Chapter 9

Two weeks later

"_In other news two men who were trapped on Mount Everest were released from hospital today. The men who didn't give their names, were rescued by International Rescue. They…"_

With a snarl of rage General Yang threw the radio across the room. It smashed against the wall and fell to the stone floor in pieces.

Alive.

The two men were alive.

It was impossible.

"LEEEEE!" He yelled suddenly, his voice rebounding off the walls. "GET IN HERE NOW!"

A couple of minutes later the door opened and Sergeant Lee stood in front of his boss, "yes sir?"

"You lied to me," the general's voice was cold and hard.

"I don't understand, what…"

General Yang moved over to the younger man, and to the sergeant's complete and utter surprise placed an arm around his shoulder. "My dear Sergeant Lee, do you remember the two men you shot on Mount Everest?"

"Yes, sir," Sergeant Lee replied, wondering where this was going.

"well…..THEY'RE STILL ALIVE!" The general's yell was enough to rattle the door.

"Alive! How?"

"Seems they were rescued by the one and only International Rescue."

"But that's not possible, I shot them…twice."

"Are you calling me a liar?" This time the general's tone was threatening.

"No sir! Of course not!"

"Good. Your life wouldn't be worth living if you were."

"What are we going to do?"

General Yang narrowed his eyes. "You mean what am _I_ going to do? You're to stupid to do anything yourself, you can't even complete the simple task of shooting two trapped men. Do you know how many problems this situation causes?"

Numbly, Sergeant Lee shook his head.

The general snorted, "you wouldn't, like I said, you're too stupid. Well let me tell you: Those two men have probably told International Rescue what happened, and I can take a pretty good guess that an investigation has been launched, and for all we know International Rescue could be helping them. Everyone knows that they have technology beyond even my comprehension, which means that our base will be found pretty soon, then you and I will be court marshalled."

"But why would International Rescue take part in the investigation, sir? They're a rescue organisation not MI5."

"Yes, but how do we know what they're doing? Those two men have probably told International Rescue about being shot down under seemingly mysterious circumstances, and I don't want to risk an organisation with their technology finding out where we are, that could end all my work."

"But what are we-you-going to do?"

General Yang thought for a moment. As well as being a strong, imposing person, who could break a man with his bare hands, he had great intelligence too. A sudden, creepy smile, crept onto his face. "Go and get Doctor Smith," he ordered.

Obediently the sergeant went to fetch the doctor.

As he waited for him to return, the general sat in his seat behind the desk, contemplating his plan. He was going to kill two birds with one stone. International Rescue had technology he would love to get his hands on; it would be an added bonus after control of all the militaries would be his, and at the same time he could force International Rescue into telling them where the two men from the mountain were. He wanted them eliminated. He could have just let them go and not taken the risk, but he had ordered them to be eliminated, and the general _never_ took back orders.

The door opened once more, and Sergeant Lee entered in the company of a thirtysomething-year-old man who was obviously Doctor Smith. He was a tall man with blonde hair and a tan. He had olive-green eyes which sparkled with malevolent intelligence.

"Ah Doctor Smith," the general greeted the man then turned to the sergeant. "Go down to the lab Lee, and keep an eye on our test subjects."

Reluctantly Sergeant Lee left to his task.

"Now Doctor Smith, how is the Enigma coming along?" Asked General yang.

"It's finished," there was a hint of pride in the doctor's voice.

"Excellent! Have you finished the testing yet?"

"Almost sir, I still need to test it one or two other species: amphibians, arachnids, and if possible…humans."

"That's what I want to talk to you about, you see I've found the perfect people to test the Enigma on. I need them to answer a couple of questions for me, and your Enigma will make sure I get the right answers."

"Who are they?"

"Does it matter?"

The doctor shook his head, he didn't care who he tested the Enigma on, as long as he could test it on a human or two.

"Excellent," the general replied. "Here's what we're going to do…."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ruth Tracy stormed into the lounge of Tracy island, fuming. Where was that grandson of hers? She had told him to stay in bed, and when she had gone in to see if he was all right, he had gone. But how? It wasn't like he could walk; he had a broken leg, and because of his broken arm as well he found it hard to use crutches and so had a wheelchair instead, though he hated it.

Gordon looked up from where he sat reading his magazine on water sports. "Who are you looking for grandma?" It was pretty obvious she was looking for someone; this was the third time she had come storming in in the last five minutes.

"I'm looking for that grandson of mine, he's escaped again."

"Which grandson might that be Grandma? You have five you know, though I don't think I'm the one you're looking for."

"No your not the one I'm looking for….for once."

"So who is it? Scott or Alan?"

"Scott! I'm telling you, when I get a hold of him he's going to regret going AWOL on me. I told him to stay in bed!"

"Take it easy, Grandma" Gordon laughed. "He's probably by the pool with Virgil, and he can't really get very far; he's in a wheelchair and he needs someone to push it for him due to his broken arm."

"Which is why Scott isn't the only one in serious trouble," with that she turned on her heels and marched outside to the pool area.

"Oh boy," thought Gordon. "I wouldn't like to be those two when Grandma's through with them."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"You do realise that you're going to be in serious trouble with Grandma?" Virgil said to his older brother as he relaxed in the deck chair by the pool, "and so am I come to think of it."

Scott sighed. "I know Virg, but I hate being stuck in my room all day. I don't know how Alan can hack it, and to top things off I've got John constantly fussing over me. Did you know he came into my room last night and started reading to me?"

Virgil laughed, "what did he read to you?"

"Goldilocks and the three bears."

Virgil laughed even harder, "where did he get that from?"

"He got from the library apparently, though I'm tempted to think that he had it in the first place."

"I bet you enjoyed the story didn't you? Tell you what, tonight I'll sing you a lullaby, what do you say?"

"I'll say: Over my dead body. If you start singing me to sleep, I'll make sure that you spend the rest of my recovery wearing a gag!"

"But you love my singing."

"Yes I do, but I still don't want you coming into my room and singing 'twinkle twinkle little star.'

"Ok, I won't sing 'twinkle twinkle little star," he paused and then began singing softly: "Rockabye baby bunting, Daddy's gone a hunting, to fetch a baby rabbit skin to wrap a baby bunting in."

Scott glared at him, which caused Virgil to laugh even harder and launch into his version of pat-a-cake, changing the line: 'Prick it and pat it and mark it with 'B' to 'Prick it and pat it and mark it with 'S'. Put it in the oven for Scotty and me."

"SCOTT CARPENTER TRACY!" Their grandma's voice which sounded really loud despite her petite figure bellowed. "YOU'RE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE!"

Scott's face dropped, "oh no" he muttered.

"Tut tut, Scott," Virgil waggled his finger at his older brother. "What have you done now?" he knew of course what Scott had done, he had helped him.

Ruth Tracy's voice was heard once again. "AND IF VIRGIL IS WITH YOU HE'S IN SERIOUS TROUBLE TOO!"

It was Virgil's turn for his face to drop, while Scott sniggered from his wheelchair beside him. However he soon sobered up when he saw their grandma approaching.

"Hi Grandma," Scott put on his best smile for the elderly, yet angry, woman that approached them; a smile that usually had the girls flocking him. However it didn't work with his grandma.

"I told you to stay in bed!" Ruth put her hands on her hips and glared down at her two eldest grandsons, "didn't I?"

"Yes, Grandma," Scott muttered.

Ruth turned to Virgil. "And you should know better! Scott should be resting!"

"I am resting Grandma," Scott protested. "You don't see me signing up for any marathons do you?"

Ruth turned back to Scott. "Are you trying to be funny, young man?"

"No! No of course not! I'm just saying that I don't have to stay in my room to be resting."

"I know you don't Scott, but I'm tempted to lock you in there now. Why can't you be like Alan and do as you're told when it comes to recovering?"

"Alan!" Scott spluttered, flabbergasted. No one had ever said he should be like Alan, it was usually the other way around. "No offence Grandma, but I'm happy the way I am." He flashed another grin at his grandma.

"And I'm proud of the way you are, but you're still in trouble. You too Virgil, I'm putting you on kitchen duty for a month."

"What! Oh come on Grandma, cooking isn't exactly my…..speciality."

Scott cracked up, "I'll say!"

"Who said anything about cooking? You can do the washing up."'

"But we have a dish washer!"

"I know we do , but washing up will save on the electricity."

"That's our grandma," Scott sighed in admiration. "Always thinking two steps ahead."

"You'll be two steps ahead in a minute if you don't get back in that house, now come along."

Back in the lounge, John folded his arms across his chest. "Did you try an escape again, Scott? Don't you like my reading?"

"Your reading is…err….wonderful, John." Scott wondered what he was getting himself into, complementing John like that.

"That's good, Scott," said Gordon who was still on the sofa. "Because John has another book for you."

John grinned and held up the book: Little Red Riding Hood.

"Oh, no" Scott groaned. "Please no, not again."

Around him his brothers laughed.

"What's so funny?" Came a voice from the doorway.

They all spun round. "Alan!"

"What are you doing up?" Asked his grandma.

"I couldn't sleep." He wondered slowly into the room and stood beside Virgil who was sat at the piano. "What's that?" He pointed at a piece of music. "Miracle, for Scott and Alan." He read the words at the top of the sheet.

Scott looked up at the sound of his name. "What is it?"

"It's a piece of music I wrote….for you and Alan….but it's not finished," said Virgil awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Play it for us," said Gordon.

"But it's not finished."

"I still want to hear it."

"Me too."

"So do I."

"Go on Virgil, play It. " said Scott.

"Oh all right." Virgil turned to face the piano and began to run his fingers softly over the keys, allowing the soft tune to flow through the room.

When he had finished there was silence.

"Wow, that was great Virg!" Scott was the first to break the silence. "Thankyou."

"Yeah, thanks Virg," added Alan. "It kind of reminded me of snow falling."

"Let's hear it for the Mozart of the Tracy family!" Gordon clapped his hands enthusiastically, while Virgil bowed to his 'fans'.

From the hallway Jeff listened to the music and smiled. His family was safe again, and nothing could go wrong.

Could it?

The End

Or is it? Look out for the sequel Enigma, coming soon.

Ps. Sorry I seem to like cliff hangar endings.

Thankyou to everyone who has beta read my story and I hope you enjoy the sequel. I would also like to thank Nevair for beta reading it for me.


End file.
